


The Chase Through Insanity

by Little_BookwormDKM



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dimension Travel, Gen, Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-06-30 22:13:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15760746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_BookwormDKM/pseuds/Little_BookwormDKM
Summary: Young Anna didn't know what she was thinking when she went that deeply into the forest, and now she's not sure if she'll ever get out.





	The Chase Through Insanity

The creature was still following her. Gnarled branches scraping at the exposed skin of her arms and face, thorns cutting into her and leaving streaks of red barely illuminated by the sliver of moon exposed by the large suffocating clouds surrounding. The branches snag at her long blonde hair and billowing skirt, acting like old, bony fingers trying to grab her. Roots were twisting and turning around in an imitation of a snake pit, causing her to trip and stumble in her mad scramble for safety, for shelter, for...anything. 

The darkness around her was suffocating, writhing, choking her in its never ending blackness. 

Trees the size of skyscrapers had trapped out the little light she had had, forming the prison around her. the … slithering? Of the creature was lurking but a few yards away from her, she couldn’t escape. She heard the slithering again, wait, no, a growl? She heard the thunderous paws of some great canine circling her, like a shark would its prey. And just like the prey of the shark, she also feels trapped in a endless sea. Anna felt around the crowded trees around her, in search for any low hanging branches to take refuge in its, hopefully, thick branches and leaves. But she feels nothing there. Nothing but rough bark, spreading over in a massive expanse, of not even a tree, but a wall of timber. The wolf was getting closer she could feel it. The quiet, threatening snarl aimed in her direction. The hair on her arms and neck stand on end to the point of resembling light porcupine quills.

 

Then it stopped. It wasn’t as though the creature had merely ceased making noise. No, now there was… an almost… unnatural stillness. The groaning of the wind, the wrustle of tree branches, everything had simply, disappeared. Anna felt like she was suddenly submerged under water. She began walking again, hoping, praying that she could soon see the barest hint of light if she looked just a little farther. But, the strangeness continued. As she walked, she couldn’t hear the soft sounds of her small bare feet climbing over the branches, the crunch of dry leaves, the...sound of her breathing. Panic tightened in her chest, her hyperventilation increasing in rapidness as she desperately tried to find a semblance of the sound of her harsh breathing. She could barely find the ability to scream, her fear engulfing her throat and lungs like a boa constrictor on its prey. She scrunched down on the ground, trying to regain her breath, as her hands grabbed at anything in front of her, branches, leaves, tree trunks. She had just lost two of her senses, she had to, she needed to touch, to hold anything that could anchor her to her hanging threads of sanity. Just like before, no sound came to her. The dry leaves on the ground refused to crinkle, her nails scratching the wood of the tree next to her didn’t produce the slightest scritch. Anna closed her eyes, much like a child would, hoping that as soon as she opened her eyes, everything would wisp away like a horrible dream haunting her mind in the night. 

Please be a dream

**Please** be a  **dream**

**Please be a dream**

She scrunched her eyes closed as hard as she could, crouched down on the ground, golden hair clutched in her small fists. The strain of her hands pulling on her hair, produced a subtle pain that might just be enough to rouse her awake. Moments pass, enough to feel like a lifetime, until she feels she can open them again. Her eyes open, and a blinding light enter them, burning her in its intensity and fervor. A yelp of pain and surprise erupts from her mouth. Wait, a yelp, a sound, she can hear again. A feeling of relief overcomes her. She ran her fingers through her hair, rejoicing in the sound of the brush of her hair, her throat swallowing, her steady breath. As Anna’s eyes adjust to to the new light, she becomes aware of her surrounding, or currently, a lack thereof. Rather than the sea of black she had previously been entrapped in, she was now in a new prison of pure white. From all sides and angles, nothing but white surrounded her, whiter than any she had ever encountered in her life. She resembled a single blot of ink in the center of piece of paper. But the strangest of this new...land?.. is that there was no sense of dimension here, it was much like being trapped in a giant box, but, even then, there was no feeling of space or angles here, it was almost… an oblivion. The light that made up the space, had no source, it appeared that it only emanated from everything around her. Anna stood up, dusting off the dirt that had covered her dark blue dress. As the dirt fell towards the ground, it disappeared before it even hit it, it simply vanished into thin air. 

“At the very least, that...thing...is gone. But how am I going to get out of here?”

Anna realized she had to keep moving again if she ever wanted to find any way to escape. As she looked around, and finding nothing that could possibly indicate any form of direction, she began what would undoubtedly be a long trek. 

As the phrase goes, “a journey starts with the first step” and she began walking her consigned oblivion. As she traveled along, Anna’s thoughts began to wander in the same sense of how she was wandering at the moment. Her mind ran through the events that had taken place just earlier that day, astounded at how such a simple beginning could lead to such utter madness. It had been a pleasant day for her and her family. They had gone on a nice trip to a nearby beach but a few hours from their home. She could remember every detail of it. The rocky sand beneath her feet, the cool wind chilling her fair skin and making her soft tresses dance in it. She and her younger brother had spent much of their time there climbing the many rocks, trees, and boulders there, as their mother had chastised her for doing so in her new summer dress. But she couldn’t help it, she couldn’t resist the temptation of climbing the tree. She loved the thrill of getting and higher, the excitement of going higher than anybody she knew. And when she reached the top, it was so wondrous seeing the vast array of land before her. The water of the sea stretching out into infinity, the tops of trees down below her as she stood on the hills--

 

Anna was shocked out of her thoughts, when she heard a rather familiar sound. She heard the flap of leathery wings singing through the air. A soft, fearsome growl ringing through her ears. No! The beast was back! She began running yet again, adrenaline coursing through her, as she heard the creature behind her. Her feet pounded against the ground beneath her in her panic. Her heart beat pumped hard against her chest and sweat, either from fear or exertion spilled down her neck and face. Suddenly, Anna saw something in the distance, a small black spot. As she came closer and closer, to the point that she made out a small door. A door, a way out. Ignoring the burn and strain of her tiring legs, Anna ran faster and harder than she had in her entire life, her focus locked onto the key to her safety. When the door was but a foot in reach, to leaped forward, grabbed the door knob and pushed herself through it.

And then she fell.

Anna tumbled through the door, a screech of terror emitting from her mouth. Bright luminescent colors whistled past her eyes, colors of every shade one could think of. The further she fell, however, she began to slow down, instead of falling, she was almost...hovering. Her dress had fanned out beneath her, giving it the appearance of a  flowy, pink, flower. Her blond waves floated above her, completely weightless. Now she could more clearly make out the motion of the lights before her. Pinks, blues, greens, yellows, purples, swirling around in intricate beautiful, patterns. They were beams of light in an intricate dance before her. But just behind the swarming madness before her, she glimpsed pure black, not one she had experienced before. Instead this, was not merely the absence of light, but almost like it been actively taking it. It was as though it had taken whatever light had been there, stolen it and locked it away for eternity. Anna continued to float down further and further, but the colors around her began fading at the same time, the colors that had overwhelmed her senses in their brilliance became light wisps as she fell further and further. 

Anna pushed her dress down to see what could be awaiting her once she reached the area below her. Beneath her little white feet there was a small speck of light, its rays trapped by the blackness around it. The closer and closer she came to the light, she seemed to be picking up speed. Down, down, down she went, tumbling and turning, facing towards it. Soon she came close enough to see the swirling portal of light. Golden in color, its beams chasing each other round and round, and her face was meters, inches, centimeters in front of her, till her face finally came through its surface, bursting into the portal. Her skin became engulfed in energy, buzzing electricity making its way through her entire person.

Anna came out of the portal a few moments later, roughly landing on her hands and knees on a grassy hill. As she collected herself, rubbing her eyes after the blinding light that had surrounded her, she became aware of her surroundings. Anna had landed on the outskirts of a forest. Above her head hung a bright sickle moon hung above her head. Its rays casting silver light upon the broad stretch of land. As her eyes roamed over the misty rolling hills, they settled upon the image of a circle of warm orange lights. Lights in windows of houses. A nearby village! There were surely some people that could help her out of her predicament.

Anna stood up quickly, eager to see another human being, or have any kind of human interaction after so long without someone to talk to or help her. The village looked to be a good 3 miles away. She could do that, she could run rather fast at her age. Not to mention that the moon rays were bright enough to light her way and not run into anything in her path, with the area being such a clear stretch of grassy land with but a few sparse bushes. Anna began her run towards the small village, please excuse her paranoia, she had just fallen through a magical portal to god-knows-where, afterall. As Anna ran, she began to see a strange shadow on the ground, flitting in and out of the tall grass. The glimpses she caught showed a long, snake-like figure. It was the creature again, it had found her once more in this mysterious place. Anna was now half a mile from the village, she ran as fast as her lean legs could carry her. “Just a little closer no, come on, come on!”. Then, as she had reached the outer edges of the village, the shadow had disappeared. Had her mind been playing tricks on her? Had it simply been her scared mind making her see the monster that had been hunting after her, after all, why would it just give up it’s pursuit now? All the other times she only reason it had stopped is she had ended up disappearing or magically transported somewhere…

 

At least, now though she was in a place where someone could possibly help her out, tell her where she was, she’d be grateful for anything at this point. Anna looked up at the village illuminated by the moon’s glow. She was standing at the beginning of a cobblestone path, with a simple wooden fence lining the edges of it. The village was made up of an assortment of old-fashioned buildings made of stone and wood, like the ones she had seen in one of her cousin’s history textbooks. As she walked along the path, she saw that the lights that had been her guide a few minutes before, were all put out, giving the village a much more dreary, somber scene. There was a pervasive quiet around her, not like the one in the woods, but instead as though everything was frozen, was unable to move and create sound. No thumb of feet on the ground, no creak of a door, no critters roaming about in the night. 

“Well, I can’t go back, the beast could still be out there” Anna thought to herself. While this place was quite creepy, there was at least somewhere for her to hide, rather than an open plane where anything could come in an attack her.

 

Anna looked up at the moon above her head, casting a gorgeous ethereal light upon the little town. However, she noticed something strange about the moon the longer she stared at it. There in the very center was a bright yellow spot of light. The light seemed to expand, no move, turning in a fiery spiral, engulfing the moon until a bright sun came into its place. She turned her head and covered her eyes at the pain of the bright rays searing into her pupils. The town was now lit anew, with light glinting off the window panes, the reveal of the intricate woodwork accompanying the houses. Beautiful carvings of animals, plants, and swirls decorated the doorways and windows. At the very top of the door, there was a series of strange symbols on top. In the very center, there was a roundish square split into four pieces. Each piece being made of a line looping into a middle line intersected by two small lines. She couldn’t figure out what it could mean, maybe some kind of weird flower. It wouldn’t exactly be the  _ strangest _ thing she saw today.

 

Anna, stomach let out a low growling noise, indicative of the fact she had been running in fear for what must have been hours, wasting the calories in her system from the lunch she had eaten with her family. Just thinking about it now was making her mouth water, the salty crunchy chips and sweet soda giving ghost sensation to her tongue. She hoped that the town would wake up soon, maybe someone could give her some food. A cool wind blew at her side, inviting an uncomfortable chill onto her skin, brrr… and a coat as well.

 

An hour must have gone by before she saw another person walking out of their little cottage. A woman wearing very old fashioned clothing, with a thick cloak covering her eyes. Anna felt both relief and nervousness overcome, a million scenarios running through her head of whether or not anything else in this world would attempt to kill her or send her off into who knows where. She put those thoughts into the back of her mind and ran over to ask this woman for any possible information she could possibly have.

 

“E-excuse me ma’am, could I please talk to you for a moment, please, you see I-um-I’m not quite sure where I am right now…” She showed no reaction to her. Not even a startled jump at the sound of her voice. Maybe-maybe she couldn’t hear very well? She walked closer and lightly tapped her shoulder, still nothing. The woman dropped something from her basket and reached down to pick it up, her face clear as day. Anna stared in horror, mouth gaping in shock, the eyes to her face glossed over completely white. Her face was equally as blank, zero expression whatsoever. Anna backed away, terrified of what she had seen. This wasn’t like the monster, that thing was otherworldly enough she had no connection to it, but this felt  _ wrong _ , like a defilement of some sort.

More people began walking out of their houses, all with the same empty faces. And just like with the woman, they all didn’t acknowledge her presence at all. They didn’t even acknowledge each other’s presence, not once speaking, or turning their heads to see if They all moved around the little town almost like they were following a computer program, no want or need to go where, just following where they were told to go. Anna strayed into the outskirts of the town, overwhelmed with the bizarre mix of a crowded but empty town.

“Pfhh, wonderful. I finally find actual humans through this hellacious experience, and they’re nothing but a bunch of emotionless robots,” Anna said to herself in frustration. She felt it bubbling up in her chest, the fear and loneliness finally coming out. Her eyes were burning and her throat was choking up. Her chest moving erratically as she desperately attempted to hold in her tears. But it was all in vain as she felt them pouring down her freckled cheeks, and like a dam bursting the sobs came out. She curled in on herself, wishing that her parents could be there like the times when she had fallen off her bike and scraped her knee, the times  when she woke up from a nightmare. Gentle hands petting her hair while they comforted her in a warm hug. But-but no. There was no one coming, her parents were never gonna find her, she would never see her house or her friends or her school ever again. This was a nightmare she could never escape again.

 

Amongst her shaking and melancholy, Anna never seemed to notice the figure coming before her. At least until a warm, rough hand wipe away one of the tears streaming down her face. She looked up. Right in front of her there was an old woman. She was swathed in scarves and shawls in green, pink, and purple. She had wrinkled leathery skin, a mark of the years she had endured and the long life she had lived with wispy white hair falling down the sides of her face out of her bun.

“Hello, little one, what’s wrong?” The old woman smiled at her warmly, the corners of her mouth crinkling into the many folds in her skin.

“I-I’m lost, y-you see I-I was on a trip w-with m-my family…” the words clumsily poured out of her mouth. Her voice slightly scratchy from her episode from just a few moments prior. Anna was sure she must have sounded absolutely mad from her recount of the nighmarish journey she had endured and yet the woman had only nodded along, rubbing her back and encouraging her to continue. 

“Oh, you poor thing, I must say you’ve been through quite a day,” She wrapped her in a warm hug, cradling her close. Anna buried her head into the woman’s soft stomach.

A growling sound emerged from Anna, making her quickly remember that she had not eaten in at least a day

“Well, I can see that you might be in need of a bit of food, skinny lil’ thing you are. Ya know you could come into my cottage-If you are alrigh’ with tha’ “

“The-that would be wonderful thank you ma’am!” Anna looked up, hope filling her but better than any food she could have eaten.

The woman led her towards a small forest nearby, and though she was glad that the old woman was with her, her heart began to beat faster as her mind rushed back to the terror filled night she had had. Thankfully, while there was plenty of shade thanks to the many trees overhead, tendrals of sunshine made their way down the branches tightly nestled together. The earth was soft beneath her feet as strange but beautiful flowers brushed against her bare legs

 

“So, seeing as ya’ neve’ asked, me names Agatha” Anna ducked her head down, a blush overcoming her face as she realized her inadvertant rudeness.

“Oh, don’t ya worry wee lass, I was only teasin’ ye!” This made Anna smiled at the lighthearted joke.

“I-I just wanted to thank you for helping, I tried to get help from the...people in the town but they…” Anna paused.

“Aye, I know what ye are referin’ to. Such a tragedy what happened to those folk.” Agatha looked down, with a sad look in her eyes.

“C-can I ask what happened to them?”

“Oh it’s quite a tale lass, but there’s still a way to go, so I suppose I migh’ as well yell ye”

“Many years ago, a young lady came to our town. She was well liked, had a natural charm to her. But she always had this habit of taking people out to this little veranda of hers. Everyone had loved going to her little parties, enjoying the delicious food she had and delighting in the merriment she brought. But after awhile, many of them began acting strangely. They stopped smiling, stopped talking to everyone. We all assumed some of them merely went through a wee depression spell, but eventually, they lost themselves… they were… Souless”

“Um, Ms. Agatha, where are we?”

Silence 

She heard it something. The arm on her shoulder tightened, sharp nails digging into the flesh of her arm. Agatha was standing as stiff as a board. A wild wind began blowing around them, branches shaking with leaves and dirt flying through the air. Agatha’s hair had fallen free from her bun and her eyes were  _ glowing _ a brilliant and elecrifying green had covered her eye, scelara, iris, and pupil all gone. 

Anna desperately tried to rip herself away from her arms, but the stone like grip on her shoulders kept her held firmly in place, leaving only red tears in her skin as a remnant of her struggle.

The wind stop and the world became silent. A deep growl and the flap of wings snapped her attention towards a spot right in front of her. Glowing red eyes peeked out of the shadows.

“Hello my dear, how about I properly introduce you our new friend, Anna.”

And those were the last words she heard spoken before everything went black.

  
  
  
  



End file.
